Putting the bang back in your TQM program

One of the primary reasons is that most TQM programs focus on linear/rational thinking to the almost total exclusion of non-linear creative or innovative thinking.

Adding innovation to your quality management process--While the linear thinking based on statistical quality analysis is critical to finding problems, it doesn't focus on providing solutions except for the most obvious solutions implied by the statistics. Many problems tackled by quality circles, improvement and process action teams, or other problem solving groups, are complex and unstructured. Traditional quality management approaches work best with simple, more structured problems. Brainstorming, the idea generating technique most often used in TQM, is also best used on fairly simple, narrowly defined problems.

If you want to add zip to your quality management program and improve related organizational problem solving skills at the same time, then it's time to integrate creative thinking into your program. It's time to seek innovation as well as quality.

TQM and creativity are not mutually exclusive...In fact, TQM and creativity are mutually supportive. In the rush to adopt TQM practices from the Japanese, people in the US focused on the numbers orientation that seemed to be the cornerstone of the process.

The problem, people have failed to fully recognize that TQM is based on the entire creative problem solving process, which over the years is evolving from a rationally-based problem solving orientation to a creativity-based problem solving orientation. In fact, much of the success that Japanese firms have enjoyed has come from incremental creative solutions to problems in products and processes.

While most quality improvement programs do teach basic brainstorming, beyond that single technique, people are usually left to their own devices. I have identified numerous techniques (including brainstorming) that can be used to greatly enhance the creative problem solving process. I believe that, armed with these techniques, TQM problem solvers can be much more proficient than they are now.

Creative problem solving

Many TQM practitioners use the standard problem solving model shown here in the bold lettering of "Stage...). Each stage of the model involves both rational and creative thinking. There must always be a divergence of ideas, most suitable to creativity, and a convergence of ideas, most suitable to rational-analytic techniques.(1)(Figure 1 omitted) I have identified a sampling of representative creativity techniques for each of the problem solving stages. Thus while techniques for all stages, it is in the generating alternatives stage that creative problem solvers receive the most benefit from using creativity techniques.

Four of the many techniques that can help increase the performance of TQM programs are analogies and metaphors, mind mapping, story-boarding, and the TKJ method.

All are alternative generation techniques, although all four can be used to recognize and identify problems. The remainder of this article will focus on discussions of how to use these techniques to put more bang into your TQM processes.

Analogies and metaphors

Analogies and metaphors can serve as a means of identifying problems and understanding them in new or different ways. They may also be used to generate alternative solutions. Often you can draw an analogy between your problem and something else, or express it in metaphorical terms. These may provide insight into how to solve the problem.

Using analogies--An analogy is a comparison of two things that are essentially dissimilar but are shown through the analogy to have some similarity.

When NASA found it necessary to design a satellite that would be tethered to a space station by a thin wire sixty miles long, it realized that the motion of reeling it in would cause it to act like a pendulum with an ever-widening arc.

* Stanford scientist Thomas Kane, used the analogy of a yo-yo to help him figure out that a small electric motor on the satellite would allow it to crawl back up the tether to the space station.

A product development team from Atlas Copco Roc Tec, a mining-equipment company based in Golden, Colorado, used the analogy technique to develop a machine that would both dig ore and load it onto a conveyor belt.

* One of the members of the problem solving team was an amateur entomologist. He suggested the praying mantis as an example. As it eats, it clutches food between its forelegs and thrusts it into its mouth. The result of using this analogy was the ROC 302, a large tractor with shovels on each side (like forelegs) that load ore onto a conveyor belt running through the middle of the machine.

As these two examples demonstrate, while in its simplest form an analogy is a comparison of dissimilar entities, in many instances analogies are fully developed comparisons, more intricate and detailed than a metaphor or a simile.

Using metaphors--A metaphor is a figure of speech in which two different universes of thought are linked by some point of similarity. In the broadest sense of the term, all metaphors are simple analogies, but not all analogies are metaphors. Typically, metaphors treat one thing as if it were something else so that a resemblance that would not ordinarily be perceived is pointed out.

Examples include the idea drought, frozen wages, the corporate battleground, liquid assets. Also: the sergeant barks an order, the cold wind cuts to the bone, the road was a ribbon of moonlight. Metaphors have many uses in creative endeavors. For example, they have been used in sales to create new ways of viewing old realities.

Comparisons that are obvious are not metaphors To say that the noise of firecrackers on the Fourth of July sounds like gunfire, for example, is not a metaphor. Metaphors occur when a surprisingly imaginative connection is made between two different ideas or images that are normally perceived as dissimilar.

Hiroo Wantanabe, a project team leader for Honda, coined the metaphor, "a theory of automobile evolution" to describe his team's tremendous challenge. In effect, he was asking his team, "If a car could indeed evolve like a living organism, how should it do so?" This thought process eventually led them to the very successful Honda Civic model.

Summary of steps:

1. Think of an analogy between your problem and something else.

2. Ask yourself what insights or potential solutions the analogy suggests.

Mind mapping

This technique is based on research findings showing that the brain works primarily with key concepts in an interrelated and integrated manner. Whereas traditional thinking opts for columns and rows, Tony Buzan feels that working out from a core idea suits the brain's thinking patterns better. The brain also needs a way to slot in ideas relevant to the core idea. To achieve these ends, Buzan developed mind mapping.*

Mind mapping is an individual brainstorming process... To begin a mind mapping session, write the name or description of the object or problem in the center of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it. Then brainstorm each major facet of that object or problem, drawing lines outward from the circle like roads leaving a city. You can draw branches from those roads as you brainstorm them in more detail.

You can brainstorm all the main lines at once and then the branches for each, or brainstorm a line and its branches, or jump from place to place as thoughts occur.

To make the mind map more useful, you might draw each major branch extending from your central thought in a different color. As you branch out, you may notice related topics appearing on different branches.

Mind mapping is an excellent technique not only for generating new ideas but for developing your intuitive capacity, as well. It is especially useful for identifying all the issues and sub-issues related to a problem, as well as the solutions to a problem. The latter is accomplished by making the main branches the solutions and the sub-branches from each of these the pros and cons. Mind mapping also works well for outlining presentations, papers, and book chapters. In fact, mind mapping can be used in a wide variety of situations.

Numerous managers are using the mind mapping concept:

* A $50 million a year in sales electrical contractor found his firm losing money on contracts. Rapid growth had propelled the firm forward, but left it vulnerable to many weaknesses. This mind map helped the firm understand the potential causes of being late. Managers later mind mapped solutions to the problems identified.

* Michael Stanley, the engineer in charge of Boeing's technical publications unit, uses mind maps extensively. He keeps a spiral notebook of mind maps covering the "basic subjects that I've got to know to do my job."

He even has a 40 x 4 foot mind map on his wall that he used to show top management about a new process he had designed for developing technical publications.

* Joelle Martin, head of the agency that created Anheuser-Busch's award-winning "Being Black in America" advertising campaign, uses the technique to help her decide how and when to terminate an employee.

About half of the people who learn this process find it extremely useful; the other half find it uncomfortable to use. The latter seem to object to the lack of structure and find it difficult to be as spontaneous as the process requires. But for those who are comfortable with it, it can be a very useful and versatile tool.

Summary of steps:

1. Write the name or description of the object or problem in the center of a piece of paper and draw a circle around it.

2. Brainstorm each major facet of that object or problem, placing your thoughts on lines drawn outward from the central thought like roads leaving a city.

3. Add branches to the lines as necessary.

4. Use additional visual techniques for example, different colors for major lines of thought, circles around words or thoughts that appear more than once, connecting lines between similar thoughts.

5. Study the mind map to see what interrelationships exist and what solutions are suggested.

Storyboarding

Storyboarding is a structured exercise, based on brainstorming. It is extremely flexible and can be readily modified. It assists in all stages of the problem solving process, but especially in identifying the problem and in generating and deciding on alternatives. In contrast to brainstorming, which is best used with a narrowly defined problem, storyboarding is especially useful for solving complex problems. It can be used not only to provide solutions but also to help define the various aspects of a complex problem.

Storyboarding is, as it name implies, creating a story on boards. You take your thoughts and those of others and spread them out on a wall as you work on a project or attempt to solve a problem. When you put ideas on storyboards, you begin to see interconnections; you see how one idea relates to another, how all the pieces fit together.

Storyboarding follows the basic processes of brainstorming it uses a leader, a secretary, and a small group of people (6-10) working openly and following the four basic rules of brainstorming:

1. No judgments are made about any suggestion.

2. All ideas, even absurd or impractical ones, are welcome.

3. Quantity of ideas is a major objective, since it leads to quality.

4. Ideas may be combined, refined, and piggy-backed.

However, storyboarding takes brainstorming several steps further. It is more organized and deals with more complex issues. It begins with a problem. Then key issues, called headers, are identified. The first two headers are purpose and miscellaneous.

Brainstorming then occurs to identify key points under each of these headers. The items listed under the headers are known as sub-headers or subbers.

The first storyboard, known as a planning storyboard, is critiqued when completed. Next, idea boards are established using headers from the planning board as topic headers with related subbers becoming headers in the ideas board. It is during this stage that solutions usually emerge. For all storyboards, ideas are first brainstormed (30 minutes) and then critiqued (30 minutes).(2)(Figure 2 omitted)

Storyboarding is not nearly as well known or as frequently utilized as brainstorming, yet for more complex problems, it is the best process to use:

* A data transactions company seeking to become more innovative used storyboarding to develop a management structure that encouraged and systematically approved of innovative projects.

The process has been used successfully for a wide range of complex issues, from helping solve quality problems in the health care industry at West Paces Ferry Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, to information systems project design and implementation, to writing technical proposals. It is a major part of Frito Lay's creative problem solving program, much of which was aimed at improving organizational quality and processes.

The beauty of storyboarding: it's flexible and readily adaptable to your needs... If you don't like the exact system, change it a little to meet your requirements. When you begin using the process, keep it simple. As you become comfortable with the system you can expand your applications of it. However, you may need to spread doing separate storyboards over several days to maintain the group's energy levels, and several boards may be necessary to solve very complex problems. Personally, I believe it is the best group problem solving technique for complex problems.

Summary of steps:

1. A group consisting of six to ten people, a leader, and a recorder are selected.

2. The problem is defined and identified as the topic header at the top of the story board.

3. The purpose and miscellaneous headers are written down. The purpose header is brainstormed.

4. The other headers are identified through brainstorming.

5. Each header's subtopics are identified through brainstorming.

6. After a break, the critical session occurs, using different rules from those used in the creative session.

7. Ideas, communication, and organization story boards follow, using the same steps.

The TKJ method

Developed first in 1964, as the KJ (Kawakita Jiro) method (named for its originator, Jiro Kawakita, then professor of anthropology at the Tokyo Institute of Technology). The original kami-kire ho or scrap paper method was used to generate new conceptual images from raw data. In its later stages, this technique is highly visual and helps link verbal concepts with visual representations. The TKJ method builds on the KJ method and provides more steps for defining the problem. There are two parts to the TKJ process: problem definition and problem solution.

Summary of steps:

Part one: Problem definition...

1. Participants are given a central theme and asked to write as many ideas about the problem as possible on 3 x 5 cards (which have replaced the original pieces of scrap paper). Ideas must be stated briefly. The point of this step is for each individual to think of as many perspectives on the problem as possible. Each participant can generate fifteen to twenty ideas in a five- to ten-minute time span.

2. The cards are collected and consensually sorted into very general categories. To accomplish this, the leader collects the cards and redistributes them so that no person has his or her own cards. TKJ encourages the use of humor in sorting the cards and discussing the ideas.

3. The leader reads one of the cards aloud.

4. Participants find cards in their stacks that contain related ideas and read these aloud. Alternatively, the leader can stack the cards as they are collected without having them read aloud. A collection of cards, which constitute a set of thoughts, is built in this way.

5. The group gives each set of cards a name that captures the essence of the thoughts represented, that is, the essence of the problem.

6. The process continues until all cards are in named sets.

7. The named sets are combined into an all-inclusive group that is named the way the other sets were. This final set represents a consensus definition of the problem. The purpose of sorting the ideas into groups is to bring new ways of thinking to old categories of issues.

Part two: Problem solution...

1. Participants write down possible solutions to the problem on 3 x 5 cards. These ideas may or may not be related to any that have preceded.

2. The leader collects the cards and redistributes them as in part one. The leader then reads one idea aloud. As before, participants find cards that are related to it. These are read aloud and a named solution set emerges.

3. As before, all cards are eventually placed in named solution sets.

4. As before, an all-inclusive solution set is derived and named.

A graphical representation of the group's ideas may emerge as the leader/recorder, when soliciting the ideas, draws a conceptual picture of them on a writing surface in front of the group. New ideas are then generated and written down by participants. These may be derived from the conceptual picture itself or from a discussion of it. Eventually these ideas may also be shared. Like many of the Japanese creativity techniques, the TKJ method uses cards, visual maps, and association of thoughts to generate new ideas. Some American participants feel that it is too complicated and that it restricts creativity. Others like the fact that it guarantees anonymity.

This technique is similar to the Crawford Slip Method which is familiar to many TQM practitioners. The advantages that TK offers over the Crawford Slip Method include quick feedback of ideas, more active involvement for participants, and less work for the reader.

Final thoughts

These are just a few of the creative problem solving techniques available; many of which readily lend themselves to TQM problem solving sessions. If you are looking to improve the performance of your TQM effort, try these techniques. Many others have. These techniques will put a bang back in your program.

* Mind mapping was originated by Tony Buzan of the Learning Methods Group in England.

References

Mike Vance, "Storyboarding" from "Creativity" a series of audio cassette tapes on creativity, taken from the accompanying booklet to the tape series (Chicago: Nightingale--Conant, 1982).

Jerry McNellis, "An Experience in Creative Thinking," (New Brighton, PA: The McNellis Company, no date).

Lawrence F. Lottier, Jr., "Storyboarding Your Way to Successful Training," Public Personnel Management (Winter 1986).

Janis M. Czuszak and Albert L. Lederer, "On Time and Within Budget," Data Management, March 1987.

Robert A. Barakat, "Storyboarding Can Help Your Proposal." IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication, March 1989.

James M. Higgins, Ph.D., is an author, consultant, professor and entrepreneur. He has been working with people and firms since 1985 to increase levels of innovation as well as to solve particular problems. He is also the author of several books, numerous articles and cases.

Copyright Association for Quality and Participation Oct/Nov 1995
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